This FM is in many ways, encourages some of the purest gameplay out there. No Looting, no blackjack, nothing but stealth, and exploration. For the majority of the mission, you can't be seen, can't harm anyone, and can't take any shiny loot. That in itself is enough to make the mission stand out.
You are tasked with killing someone, and hiding two bodies in someones vault. Clearly this comes from very early in Garretts career, as even before we begin, he has already accidently killed someone. Oops.
Biffords house and grounds are... well, they have a charm to them, in the same way many early FMs do, and there are odd bits of detail here and there, but in general shape, Bifford lives in a giant box. In fact, this mission is just boxy in general. Quite spacious to. Despite this, the only place that looks objectively bad is the outside of the house. Otherwise, the design is all pretty competent.
There is a short scripted sequence near the end, that unfortuantly suffers from a severe case of jank. It's very easy to break, and isn't particularly threatening even if you don't break it. Personally, I am reluctant to mark the mission down for it, as the designer would have struggled to improve it with the techniques at the time.
The forced ghosting might put some people off, though I didn't find it too hard myself. In fact it felt pretty well balanced, and shouldn't cause too much frustration even among those who rarely ghost. Just be prepared to leave the body your carrying behind while you scout the place.
Oh right, there is one point of contention. The "no looting" objective. This objective is frustrating, not because it's hard, but because it's kinda silly. Garrett apparantly is incapable of putting the shiny thing back down, so any time you grab loot, you instantly fail the mission. Thankfully, all the loot is in the open, so no surprise mission failures from opening chests, but this still is the biggest source of annoyance in the mission.
This is ultimately a minor issue though. this mission is very competently made, and somewhat enjoyable, though it's gimmicks are not enough to make me want to replay it, I am unlikely to forget about it any time soon.
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star 6 / 10
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